TWIF 14: The Reproducibly Stuck Edition

In this edition: Improved app descriptions in the repository, testers for beta 5 welcome, and reproducible builds still stuck.

F-Droid is a repository of verified free and open source Android apps, a client to access it, as well as a whole “app store kit”, providing all the tools needed to set up and run an app store. It is a community-run free software project developed by a wide range of contributors. This is their story this past week.

F-Droid core

Izzy’s updated app descriptions have been fully merged. You’ll get to enjoy more details, and have better chances of telling what an app is about.

Alpha 5 of the F-Droid app is out and should have lots of fixes and no regressions. If you’re okay with running alpha software, please help test, and report any issues at the bug tracker!

Although the bug that broke the publishing stage for all apps was fixed, Öffi and Briar frustratingly still didn’t get published. And this while they got built and verified. There seems to be some problem with the buildserver, to which only CiaranG has full access, and this issue is blocked pending feedback from CiaranG.

New apps

Updated apps

In total, 40 apps were updated this week. Here are the highlights:

KeePass DX, a secure multi-format password manager and a fork of KeePassDroid, updated from 2.5.0.0beta11-libre to 2.5.0.0beta15-libre. Fixes fingerprint recognition and includes many UX improvements, new icons, bug fixes, and memory optimization.

Anuto TD is yet Another Ugly Tower defense game for Android, featuring astonishing hand-drawn graphics and a smooth gameplay. Version 0.4 has balancing improvements, getting started instructions, and saves game state if Android terminates the application.

TV KILL turns off supported TVs using your device’s built-in IR-blaster. Version 1.3.1 has a new backend and widget fixes, improved progress dialog, more structured settings screen, and fixes a bug that causes the notification to appear for no reason.

Mysplash is a lightweight client for the image website Unsplash. Version 3.3.7 was withdrawn because the author removed the API keys from the source, and the Unsplash service doesn’t work without them. Auto update mode was disabled, so it looks like version 3.3.3 will be the latest version in F-Droid for a while.

Transportr has a 2.0.1 patch release out, using VVT instead of the IVB network and fixing the KVV network and several crashes.

VoIP.ms SMS allows you to send and receive SMS messages using your VoIP.ms account. Version 0.6.1-fdroid adds support for Android O notification features, uses transactions to prevent database corruption, and other improvements and bug fixes. Additionally, it now requires Android 5.0 or newer to run.

CrossWords is a cross-platform game with the same rules as Scrabble, and was updated from 4.4.131 to 4.4.138. This update has a bunch of UX improvements, translation updates, and crash and bug fixes.

NewPipe, the lightweight YouTube frontent, was updated from 0.13.5 to 0.13.7 and can now undo delete of downloads, and has several UI improvements and bug fixes.

Removed Apps

Timber, a material design music player, was moved to the archive because the developer seems to have lost interest in F-Droid builds and no longer provides a FOSS build flavor. Vanilla Music may be an alternative.

In the next TWIF

There are way too many app updates to keep track of them all, so we need your help to highlight the important ones. And of course, if you’re doing anything involving F-Droid in some way, we love to hear about it!